Black & Gold Notes: August 9

With Andy Gruenebaum sidelined with a shoulder injury, Matt Lampson made his second start of the season last Saturday at Houston ... although the 23-year-old suffered the loss, his one save earned him a “Save of the Week” nomination ... Lampson is now 1-1-0 on the year with a 1.50 goals against average and one shutout -- a cleansheet that he earned in his last Crew Stadium start on July 7 (a 1-0 victory against Portland).

VIANA WITH A SECOND START

Agustin Viana made his second consecutive start at leftback last Saturday at Houston, a promising sign for the Crew newcomer ... the start was Viana’s 10th of the current campaign. ... Viana returned to the starting lineup at Toronto on July 27 for the first time in exactly three months after battling a hamstring injury suffered against D.C. United on April 27.

CREW REMAINS POSITIVE THAT RESULTS WILL COME

Following a tough 3-1 loss at Houston on August 3, Crew players remained optimistic about turning it around this weekend against New York ... Ryan Finley, playing an energetic 45 minutes off the bench, provided a spark for the Crew and led to an own goal received ... said Finley of the loss, “I think we’ve just got to get our heads up. I mean it’s definitely not a work ethic thing at practice or anything like that. I think you just get unlucky sometimes in this sport. The most important thing is we have to stay positive, we have to stay strong in the locker room” ... Dominic Oduro stressed the continued importance of teamwork to battle adversity in pursuit of three points, saying, “We just have to come out as a team right now. We have to stick together. We really have to work as a team. That’s the only way that’s going to work. We got to go back again and regroup. We can’t do it as individuals. But everybody out there, we just have to work as a team and hopefully it will work.”